***
Summers watched Calvin unlock the door and race inside. Was he really as eager as all that? He didn’t seem the type to be that desperate; it was unbecoming.
Once inside, she saw him pick up something from the desk and stuff it away in his safe. It looked like pills. She raised a curious eyebrow. “What was that?”
“Just a prescription,” said Calvin with an innocent shrug as he hurried back over to her. The door slid shut, leaving them alone.
She made it a point to look around the apartment before he could make his move on her. It was somewhat messy but not overly so, though his bed wasn’t even made, and he still had a couple of boxes he hadn’t unpacked. At least the room didn’t smell bad.
To her dismay, nothing incriminating was in sight. Calvin didn’t even have a liquor cabinet. And the only drinks, true to his word, were water bottles.
In hardly a moment, he was there again, reaching for her.
She stopped him. “Wait a sec.” Then popped the cork. The bottle smoked a bit, giving the authentic impression it had never been opened—something she’d achieved by injecting her surprise through the cork rather than removing it.
She offered him some. “Go ahead and drink it right out of the bottle.” She gave him the sexiest smile she knew how to give.
His eyes lit up, and he returned the smile but refused the drink. “I really hate the stuff. Can’t stand it. It all tastes like ethanol to me.”
She felt her heart race. She’d come way too far for this plan to fail now. “Come on, smell it,” she said.
He took a whiff and started coughing.
Her mind panicked, seeking a way to salvage the situation if she couldn’t get him to take a drink. “I was hoping we’d drink it together,” she said with big eyes and a pouty face. She absolutely hated resorting to that, but Calvin was making this hard. And she was so very close.
“Sorry, love,” he said.
She paused for a moment; he’d called her love. That bit her, so she blinked it from her mind. Must focus on the mission!
She took a large drink herself, careful not to swallow, and then invited him to take her in his arms. He scooped her up like a feather, the quick motion almost causing her to spit out the wine.
The two of them collapsed to a sitting position on his bed, and she pulled off his shirt. He gave her a firm squeeze and pulled her even closer. As soon as she felt his hands under her blouse, she knew this could go no further. She pressed her lips against his, then into an opened-mouth kiss.
It must have been surprising for him to get a mouthful of wine laced with chloral hydrate. He stiffened up and made a slight effort to disentangle himself from her to spit it out, but she wouldn’t budge and kept kissing him until he swallowed.
After that it was just a matter of keeping him shy of second base until his grip slackened and he passed out. “Thank god,” she said as he finally lost consciousness. She removed herself from his now slack embrace and stood up.
She wasn’t sure how long the effect would last, but felt safe taking a minute to brush herself off and wash up using Calvin’s sink. She hadn’t worn any makeup on purpose, so it wasn’t too much effort to clean her face and smooth out her clothes. But seeing her hair made her frown. It would be difficult to fix properly. Instead she put a rubber band around it and wore it up.
Feeling a bit more like herself, she set to task combing over the captain’s apartment. She opened drawers, checked under the desk and the bed, browsed through the boxes, but ultimately didn’t find anything incriminating. That only left the safe, and Calvin had sealed it tight.
With a heave, she gripped his wrist with both hands, and yanked him off the bed and onto the floor. She half expected him to wake up, but he was still out cold. She dragged him along the floor until they were close enough for her to press Calvin’s thumb against the plate. It beeped its approval and unlocked. She popped it open.
To her surprise, and mixed delight, she saw a mountain of pill bottles. They were kept in translucent orange containers that were unmarked. One was open and half gone. She pulled out her tiny camera and took a picture—intending to take it, and a bottle of pills, to the lab on the lower decks. Her guess was that, after they analyzed the chemicals, it would be discovered that Calvin had possession of illegal drugs. That was more than enough to take away his command.
She felt a surge of victory swell in her lungs, but it was a bittersweet victory.
As she looked at him … crumpled on the floor, and thought of what he’d said to her on the observation deck … she couldn’t just leave him like that. She spent the next minute or two dragging him back and hoisting him onto his bed. She didn’t go out of her way to make him comfortable, but she couldn’t stand seeing him on the floor. When he was back in place, or close enough, and she didn’t feel as bad, she headed for the lab.
The Phoenix Conspiracy Page 43
