‘And I’ve never done this before,’ Penny added. ‘June’s the one with the modelling career planned out. No one’s even mentioned being paid, but I think I’d have to find a charity to give the money to anyway.’
‘I’m the one with the experience,’ Dom said. ‘All of the models are new to the business, or not in it. The aim is to give the girls a good start as well as make some money.’
Ever looked between them. ‘Would I need to wear those pointless bits of cloth? I’m not very fond of clothing.’
Dom grinned; she had her final model, and she knew it. ‘If we put you in anything, we’ll take pains to ensure it’s all natural fibres, but we can work with nude. It’s not going to be that sort of calendar, but it’s just a matter of pose. Jon is very good at getting just the kind of angle and position we need. Just enough flesh on show, not too much.’
Ever shrugged. ‘I’ll never understand what humans have against their own bodies.’
Penny frowned. ‘As I understand it, you were human once.’
‘I remember fragments of Perpetua Donnelly. Her feelings and morals are distant memories, though her ideals were close to mine. I’m more… elemental. I’m closer to the plants and animals of the swamp than I am to her.’ Ever gave a small smile. ‘I think she would have loved it. I understand the ecology of this place the way she strived to. Oh, I can’t really spend too much time on Miami Beach…’
‘Not a problem,’ Dom replied. ‘It’s for nature, we’d like to do some shooting around here, if you’re okay with that?’
‘I know some very beautiful spots.’
Dom nodded. ‘I was hoping you did, but I think… Perhaps we could use this cabin. We can get one of the blondes on the jetty in a pair of Daisy Dukes with a fishing pole.’
Ever laughed. ‘I will do my best to keep the insects at bay.’
Miami, FL.
Penny touched down beside the hotel’s pool and put June carefully down on her feet. The heat in the city, even on the ocean coastline, was oppressive, even if the humidity had dropped a little.
‘That went well, I thought,’ June said. Her gaze swept the poolside, scanning over the bodies doing their best to cook themselves. ‘I think a bikini is in order. I’m going to work on my tan while I can.’
‘Probably a good idea,’ Penny agreed, but something did not feel right. There was something…
She turned her head and spotted the man sitting beside the bar. He was tall, heavily built, huge even, with short-cropped, blonde hair and, she thought, blue eyes. His jaw was solid, his lips thin, and those blue eyes were watching her. Of course, there were several people around the pool watching the arrival of the Ultras and June, but this one seemed more intent, even sitting there in a pair of swimming trunks. Despite his age, which had to be over fifty, he looked pretty good in a pair of Speedos.
‘Yeah,’ Penny continued. ‘I’ll join you. Have to try on that bikini sometime.’
New Millennium City, MD.
Jacob Dannon opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling of his bedroom. Something had woken him and he was not sure what. He kept his room dark; he liked a real blackout to fall asleep in, but it did mean that seeing anything that might be there was almost impossible.
His gaze shifted toward the foot of the bed. The shadows there seemed darker, or was it something dark standing… No, crouching on the rail… It moved.
‘Oof!’ Dannon said as Twilight landed on him. Her legs straddled his hips, her arms rested on his chest. Her breath was on his face and, this close, he could see the grin on her lips.
‘Evening, Special Agent,’ she purred.
‘You really… have to stop doing this,’ Dannon grunted in reply. ‘How did you get in anyway?’
‘I have my ways. You said there were four people who broke out of the Fortress. One of them was some sort of Ultra hunter.’
‘Jasper Conrad. Jasper Philip Conrad the Third, actually. Austrian. He used to hunt big game in Africa, illegally for the most part, but he decided that wasn’t a big enough challenge. Went mercenary. Fought in Bosnia when that went up, tried his luck in South America against the Amazon Queen’s forces. Now he hunts Ultras.’ The lithe young woman lying atop him shifted slightly and he swallowed.
‘I think he’s hunting Cygnus. I heard David Tonaldo’s rescinded her bounty because someone who’s good at killing Ultras is after her. Is he?’
‘After her, or good at killing Ultras?’
‘Either.’
‘We’ve no idea where he is so I can’t speak for the former. He has a dozen confirmed kills to his name. One was a magnitude four.’
‘Thanks. You might want to inform your Miami office that he could be down there. Otherwise, I think he’ll be around New Millennium.’
‘I’ll do that. You know, you could have just come to the office.’
‘Where’s the fun in that?’ She shifted her hips and grinned. ‘You seem to be enjoying a more personal service as well.’
‘This could be considered sexual harassment.’
‘We wouldn’t want that…’ She rolled off him, falling off the side of the bed in a fluid movement that left him blinking. There was no sound of her hitting the floor.
Reaching out, he turned on the bedside lamp, and then looked down. There was no sign of her, not even under the bed. Dannon rolled onto his back again and sighed. ‘There is no way I’m getting back to sleep now.’
Miami, FL.
There was a message from Twilight waiting for her when Penny signed into UltraNet. Her phone had chirped an alert when she turned it on, and she had frowned and unpacked her laptop. June had grumbled about her bringing work on her working vacation, but if something had pinged then it was probably urgent. Seeing that it was from Twilight, Penny figured it was very urgent since her shadowy partner did not send messages otherwise.
It was a very short message. Jasper Conrad. T.
Frowning, Penny did a search on the name and got an UltraNet profile from the criminal section. There was a picture, and she felt a chill run down her spine when she saw it. Blonde, blue-eyed, lantern-jawed, and he had been sitting beside the pool at her hotel the day before. The report stated that he had been incarcerated for the murder of an Ultra named Violet, based out of Chicago. Despite the unassuming name, Violet had been a skilled huntress of criminals. Conrad had put two bullets in her chest from five thousand yards. The fact that he was in Miami and Twilight had dropped his name suggested he was hunting Cygnus.
Penny picked up the room’s phone and punched in a number. A second or two later, it was answered and she said, ‘Dom, I think we may have a problem.’
~~~
‘Are you sure it’s safe to be standing around in the open?’ June asked, keeping her voice down so that none of the others present heard her.
Penny adjusted the cups on her bikini bra, again, frowning at the little triangles of fabric. ‘His MO is to watch, learn your behaviour, and then ambush,’ she replied. ‘That’s why he was here. Dom says the UID are keeping an eye out for him. All the local Ultras are as well. It’s probably too hot for him right now, so he’ll likely stay hidden. I don’t think this is the right size.’
June gave her a glower. ‘You’re being far too blasé about this, and no, it’s two sizes too small. It makes your tits look bigger.’
‘You don’t think they look big enough?’
‘It’s a trick of the trade. You should be watching Sharon for tips on how to pose, not worrying over your costume.’
Sharon was a buxom young blonde who was currently being photographed by Jon. They were up on a rooftop overlooking the ocean, so the backdrop was fairly pretty, but also did not detract from the model. That was what Jon had said anyway. Penny turned her attention to the ongoing shoot, but she was really not that clear on why one pose was better than another. They all seemed to revolve around pushing your chest out in one way or another. There was the curve of the back, and the placing of one leg forward.
‘I’m no
t sure I’m ever going to get this,’ Penny admitted. ‘I don’t really think I’m cut out for doing this professionally.’
‘Wait and see what the pictures come out like,’ June suggested, ‘and try not to look too vacant.’
‘Sharon looks kind of vacant.’
‘Sharon is kind of vacant,’ June said, keeping her voice down again, ‘but you’re an Ultra. Try for determined, or intense, or… or imagine Bobby’s standing beside Jon’s shoulder and you want him to jump your bones right this minute.’
‘June!’
‘What? It’s all about attitude. Your thoughts come out in the picture, really. I’ll be imagining Red’s standing there.’
‘I think that’s enough,’ Jon said, getting up from where he had been kneeling and walking over to a small table to swap the memory card on his camera. ‘June, you’re up.’
June began walking toward the lounger Sharon had been using. Each step put more swing in her hips as she got into character. Penny watched her, taking in as much detail as she could. It seemed like her friend was right: it was all about the attitude. Jon seemed to be giving her a little less instruction than he had Sharon: ‘turn here,’ ‘look left,’ ‘perfect…’
Penny moved to a position just behind Jon’s left shoulder to watch. The photographer did not seem to mind. June did not seem to mind either; her gaze shifted to look at Penny, which was not enough away from the lens to spoil the shots. Penny swallowed; June’s eyes were positively smouldering. Her lips parted, she reached up and pushed her hair up and back, the action pushing her chest out. If June was imagining Red standing there then… Well that was fine, but Penny got the impression that June was posing for her, not the Huntress. There was a look in her eyes, an aching longing for something just beyond her reach…
‘I think that’ll do,’ Jon said suddenly. Penny shook her head, wondering how long he had been snapping pictures, or rather how long she had been staring at June. ‘I’m not sure how many of those we’ll be able to use,’ the photographer added. ‘We don’t want men stalking you after seeing them, but they were excellent.’ He looked over his shoulder at Penny. ‘Think you can do something like that?’
‘No, but I can try.’
‘If you can do half as well we’ll have some good shots.’
‘Right.’ Penny’s legs felt oddly rubbery as she swapped places with June. Going to bed tonight was going to be extra tough.
New Millennium City, MD.
‘There’s something that would probably increase sales,’ Roger Peters said from his place beside the cash register at the back of the store.
Andrea looked over at him. He was reading a newspaper, somewhere around page five. ‘What’s that, Roger?’
‘That Russian Ultra, Svetilo, has organised some calendar shoot in Miami.’
‘I heard about that, so?’
‘She’s got that new girl, Cygnus, doing it. Now, if we could get her in here signing a few comics, we could have queues out the door.’
In truth, queues out the door would not have taken much; Radium Comics was not a large shop. ‘I think she works nights,’ Andrea replied. ‘Probably has a day job. The only time she’s been seen in daylight was on a Saturday. You’d have to open out of normal hours.’
Peters folded his newspaper. ‘It might be worth it. Things have been a little tight recently.’
‘Oh…’ Andrea bit her lip, wondering whether she should say what was springing to mind. Cygnus already knew who she was, but was this giving away a little too much? ‘She goes to the Huntress’ Den on a Friday night fairly often. I… I suppose I could ask her if I saw her there.’
Peters looked at her, his eyes narrowing. ‘Think she would?’
‘I have no idea. The little bits of interview I’ve seen… she’s no publicity hound, but she might take the opportunity to meet people and promote that calendar.’
‘Okay… I don’t really think I should be asking you to do this, but… if you see her…’
‘No harm in asking,’ Andrea suggested. ‘Just so long as this isn’t just to get a close-up look at a tall blonde in a next-to-nothing costume.’
Peters hand clutched at his chest melodramatically. ‘Andrea, you wound me.’
Andrea turned back to her inventory taking with a grin on her lips. ‘Sure. Right…’
Miami, FL.
Dom was going over the stills taken over the last two days, flicking through them rapidly on a tablet computer, when Penny and June joined the others for dinner. Every so often she would pause, examining a frame more closely, and then move on.
‘We have some excellent shots here, girls,’ the Russian said. She turned her gaze to June. ‘You in particular, June, have a knack for this kind of shoot, I think. If someone looked at me the way you looked into the camera, I should be a puddle on the floor.’ Dom’s eyes flicked to Penny; Jon had been talking.
‘Tomorrow,’ Dom went on, ‘we will give some of you a rest day. Shona, June, and Cygnus will be going out to the Everglades with me. Everyone else can work on their tans. Susan will be calling you in to check the fits on some lingerie we want to use for interior shots.’
‘You want me in a swamp?’ Shona asked.
‘Oh yes. We have something special which your physique is perfectly suited to. And you will get to meet Ever who will make sure neither mosquitos nor alligators try to take a bite out of you.’
‘Well, that’s a comfort.’
~~~
Penny found herself lingering in the bathroom. She took extra time to brush her teeth, and then found herself staring at her reflection in the mirror for a long time. She knew she was putting off climbing into bed with June; she knew it, and Cygnus wanted her to get over it. Cygnus wanted her to walk in there and seduce her friend. June was Penny’s friend; Cygnus wanted a lover. What made it really hard was that Penny knew that June wanted the same.
‘Fuck you,’ Penny whispered to the mirror, ‘cuddling is all you’re going to get.’
Turning, she marched into the bedroom and around the bed. She slipped in under the covers without saying anything and turned on her side, facing away from June. There was a slight pause and then June shifted over, curling up behind Penny’s… no, against Cygnus’ back.
‘You don’t mind, do you?’ June whispered.
‘No… of course not.’ Reaching out, Penny turned off the lights and there was silence for a minute or two.
‘June?’ Penny said, her voice soft.
‘Uh-huh?’
‘When you were up on the roof doing all that smouldering at the camera…’
‘Yeah?’
‘You were imagining that Red was there, right?’
There was a tiny pause, barely perceptible, but definitely there. ‘Yeah. Of course I was.’
Penny closed her eyes. ‘Okay,’ she said, accepting the lie. ‘Night, June.’
‘Night, Pen.’
New Millennium City, MD, 11th November.
Twilight watched men carrying boxes down out of a disused shop in Churchton. The north end of the district had been one of the earliest parts of the city to be built; there had been a need for housing for construction workers and, even more than the rest of the area, this part had fallen into disrepair once Friendship had been built. The buildings were, for the most part, tall and bleak; urban sprawl at its worst with many an unused commercial enterprise.
The thought occurred that she had not taken down a group like this without Cygnus in a while. With the brightly dressed, bulletproof flyer around life got easier. She was going to have to do this the hard way, but it was how she had worked for a year before they had teamed up.
Turning, she stepped into one shadow and instantly stepped out of the shadow of the van they were loading. The driver was waiting impatiently in the cab for the others to finish. He did not see her, even when she stepped up to the side of the open cab and smacked one of her batons over the back of his head.
Slipping silently to the rear of the van, she glanced out towa
rd the shop. There were no lights visible through the open door. They were working from the dim light managing to get in from the street light. She waited until the four loaders were either at the van or walking to it, and then she shadow-stepped into the building.
The place was coated in dust, aside from the places on the floor and shop counter where boxes had been sitting. Moving quickly, Twilight grabbed a box and ducked behind the counter with it. It was heavy, despite being only about eighteen inches wide by ten high. A small knife taken from her belt slit the tape holding the box closed and she opened it up. Bank notes looked up at her. They looked real, but why would someone be moving boxes of money at two in the morning if they were not bogus? Why hide them in an old newsagent’s shop? She sniffed; the smell of fresh ink was, perhaps, a little too strong.
‘Hey, weren’t there ten boxes left?’ The voice came from the other side of the counter. Someone in the group was more observant than the usual for Tonaldo goons.
‘You sure?’ a second voice said. ‘Remember what happened when you tried t’ do your own taxes?’
‘I can count to fucking ten. Boss’ll have our balls if we lose one.’
Twilight reached to her belt, pressing a catch which dropped a pair of smoke pellets into her palm. It was time to move. Her arm swung around in an arc, tossing the two small spheres upward where they hit the ceiling. There were two loud cracks and the room filled with smoke. Of course, that left Twilight blind as well, but she did not need to stay there. She vanished, reappearing beside the van and moving into immediate action.
Bank notes exploded around her as she kicked through a box into the man carrying it. Her arm arced around to bring her baton into violent contact with a second thug’s jaw. Her second baton appeared and she stepped between the men, whipping the twin sticks into her victims’ skulls, and they went down just as the two in the shop staggered out, coughing and spluttering, and waving pistols.
Now she dived backward, into the shadows in the back of the van. She heard the two men as she came at them from inside the shop.
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